You are outward bounder
After those 2 pages, I had to end my journal because, as you can see, I wrote ALOT and there was no more room in the journal. If I can remember correctly, I was going to buy another journal and continue it, but I got wrapped up that summer in getting ready to go to college and buying new clothes and calling my soon to be roommate, and all that fun stuff. So it never happened.
Seven years later, I can still remember my trip quite vividly, so I would like to fill in what I can remember about the remaining 12 days of the course. Solo lasted for 3 days. It was a very spiritual time for me. I sat on this glorious rock in the middle of a stream for hours, listening to the murmuring of the water and the chirping birds around me. I thought about where I had been and where I was going.
On Day 14, Markian came and got each of us individually, and we hiked back to the campsite in silence. We were all very weak from not having eaten dinner, so Markian and Sara cooked us a feast, including the most delicious potato soup I have ever tasted in my life.
After dinner, we all sat around a candle and discussed our Solo experiences. I remember Becky breaking down and crying. The pain of being alone hurt her very much. She said it made her realize how precious life was to her, all of her family and her friends, and us. She said she had missed us so very much, and she had a present for us. She had made these bracelets from a red bandana she had torn apart and braided. I kept mine in my car until about a year ago. It was very meaningful and symbolic for me.
For the next few days our group did alot of rock climbing and peak climbing. They were good days, ones full of renewed energy and spirit.
On Day 18, the 4 groups that had gone their separate ways on Day 1 reunited for our Finals Expedition. They redivided us into group of 4-5 students. Each group was given a route that was between 36-52 miles long to be navigated in 5 days without any instructors. All the groups were supposed to meet at a common designated spot, via our different routes. There were a myriad of mountain and river crossings along the way. I don't remember much about Finals, except that it was, of course, extremely difficult. I also remember the 4th day, the day we arrived at our designated spot, and the last time we would have to walk with a backpack. I cannot describe that feeling of triumph and joy in words. It is indescribable.
That night, after all the groups had slowly trickled in and had reached the spot, we had a feast provided for us. This was actually a pre-established campsite equipped with water and picnic tables and whatnot. We had fajitas, and s'mores, and we devoured it like animals. It was quite fun.
That night the original groups met back together for a private ceremony. We had the only campfire during the trip (except for the one that night we made when the instructors were away). It was an extremely emotional time. Markian and Sara read us the following passages:
I kept in touch with both Lee and Kara. Since Kara lived in Dallas, and I was going to in Fort Worth, we got to meet up on my journey up to college. I went to her house and met her family and her friends and spent a few days there. It was wonderful. Then, I had to get going and go move into the dorm, and she left for her first year at Brigham Young University. Lee called me the 3rd day after I had returned from Colorado. We continued to talk about once a week, until I came home for my first Christmas Break from college, and he joined me in New Orleans for a week. It was a most memorable week. One of the best I have ever had. We continued to keep in touch for a few months after that, but we, too, drifted apart, as college became the prime focus of my life.
Thank you very much for exploring Outward Bound with me. I would really love it if you signed my guestbook and let me know what your reaction is. I strongly encourage anyone who is interested in participating in such an awesome adventure visit the Outward Bound USA official page for course information and more by clicking here. There is financial aid available for anyone who wants it. Everyone in my group had received financial aid. I actually received half of the tuition costs, so they are very generous!! In closing, I would like to leave you with the following passage:"There are beginnings and there are endings. What meaning and effect your experience here will have in your life, only you will ultimately know. The responsibility, as always, is yours to make of it what you will. Bon Voyage, my friends." -- Hohn Hurst
There were alot of tears shed, and alot of weepy heads on one another's shoulders...
"I also knew there would be some things that would never be dimmed by distance or time, compounded of values that would never be forgotten. The joys and challenges of the wilderness, the sense of being part of the country and of an era that was gone. The freedom we had know, silence, timelessness, beauty, companionship, and loyalty, and the feeling of fullness and completion that was ours at the end...." -- Sigurd F. Olson
There was one final activity still to come. The next morning, Day 23, was to be the final day of the course. In the mrning, we had a 12 mile marathon. We were told that the only person we were to compete with was ourselves. To realize that we had already won by being in the running. If we could only finish the distance we set for ourselves, however humble it may be, we would win, they said. It was quite the way to end such a journey! :o)"Only within yourself exists that other reality for which you long. I can give you nothing that has not already its being within yourself. I can throw open to you no picture gallery but your own soul. All I can give you is the opportunity, the impulse, the key. I can help you to make your own world visible. that is all." -- Herman Hesse, Steppenwolf